1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to track toys and, more specifically, to a toy wherein the travelling route of a vehicle, such as a train, passing a branching portion of the track is changed by changeover of an operation point lever.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Heretofore there has been known a track toy which has a branch line and which is played while the travelling route of a vehicle, such as a train, automobile, etc. passing a branch portion of the branch line is changed by changeover of an operation point lever provided in the branch portion.
In the above conventional track toy, the changeover of the operation point lever is performed manually, and this operation is difficult to perform.
It has been proposed to perform such changeover operation by a remote control using a radio controller, but a practical application thereof has been difficult for the following reason.
According to the proposal, the forward and backward movement as well as the travelling speed of a vehicle which travels on a track are controlled by radio control signals using a radio controller. If, in addition to these controls, even the changeover of an operation point lever for changing the travelling route of the vehicle is to be performed by the said radio control, it becomes necessary to increase the number of channels correspondingly. However, under rules established by the Federal Communication Commission, for example, the employable frequency range is limited to an extremely narrow range. Thus, it is difficult to use frequencies properly when the number of channels within the narrow range are increased and there easily occurs interference with a control signal.
For avoiding such interference it has been proposed to use a high-performance radio controller, but this is expensive, and therefore not suitable for track toys which must be provided inexpensively.